New Zealand police on Thursday made their first arrest under the newly enacted Gangs Act 2024, just three minutes after the legislation prohibiting the public display of gang insignia came into effect.
Assistant Commissioner Paul Basham said a court issued a warrant following a CCTV video of five patched Head Hunters West gang members on motorcycles around 1:20 AM on November 21, 2024. Upon identification, one of the five gang motorcyclists was arrested. Various motorcycles and patches, including those of the Head Hunters West president, have since been seized by the police. Both the gang’s president and the arrested individual have pending charges against them under the Gangs Act 2024 for displaying gang insignia in public.
The police publicly qualified the warrant as a “notice to gang members that Police are actively enforcing the new legislation.” The police stated: “[W]e will be undertaking follow-up enquiries to identify those responsible for breaches, even if action is unable to be taken immediately at the time of offending.”
The official implementation of New Zealand’s new anti-gang laws marks a significant shift in the country’s approach to gang-related activities. The new legislation aims to curtail gang influence, prevent intimidation, and uphold public safety, according to Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith and Police Minister Mark Mitchell. The ministers announced that with the “establishment of district gang units, Police are ready to make maximum use of the new tools brought in to target disruptive gang events and enforce the new gang laws.”
The ministers also noted that the right to wear a gang symbol correlates with having “committed a violent crime” with “a trail of tears and victims behind each one of those gang patches.” The ministers emphasized that while gang members constitute less than 0.25 percent of the population, they are associated with 18 percent of serious violent crimes, 19 percent of homicides, and 23 percent of firearm offenses in New Zealand.
Under the Gangs Act 2024, any public displays of gang insignia are punishable by a fine of up to $5000NZD or up to six months in prison. The new law also allocates greater powers to the police and courts. Courts are granted the jurisdiction to issue non-consorting orders preventing gang members from associating or communicating with specified individuals for up to three years. Police can require public gatherings of three or more gang members to leave a public area and refrain from gathering for seven days through dispersal notices. They can also enter the homes of repeat offenders to search for banned items under the new Act. Any repeat offenders publicly displaying gang insignia three times within five years will face a five-year ban on possessing or controlling gang insignia in any capacity, with breaches punishable by up to one year in prison. Furthermore, gang membership is now an aggravating sentencing factor.
